my new fish all died

Question
hi
i'm a new fish owner, just got a 25 g. tank, and read up about what to do on the internet through several different sites. I set up the previously boiled rocks and stones at the bottom of the tank, filled up the water and let the filter run for over two weeks. then i purchased real plants, and let them sit in the tank for a week before purchasing five fish-- one black moore, two ryukins and two shubukins. They were medium sized, about two inches long, not including the tails. I floated the bags for about 15 minutes, let them into the tank without the water from the bags, and they lived about a week. One shubukin died about one day later, with his only symptoms being lethargy. Two others died two days later with the same symptoms. When there were only two left, they both got ick and i put treatment into the tank for it.
While this was going on, i was checking my pH level, which was constantly too high, around 8 or 8.5. I use water from my well, not town water. I treated the water for pH, but there was no change. I kept treating the tank, with 50 drops, two drops for each gallon as the bottle stated. but still no change.
This was around the time that there were only two fish left. The black moore started to get really lethargic, and the ick got worse. Overnight, his skin started to look like it was peeling, like a white film was flaking off. This is how he looked when he died. The shubukin died the next day, with only ick, no skin difference, but her tail was rather destroyed looking.
I'm thinking that maybe i caused the fish too much stress, because i put a new block of coral in for more hiding places about two days after i got them, and i kept the light on for longer than it should have been (I now only leave it on for around eight hours per day for the plants). I was also repositioning the plants often, putting them back under the gravel because the fish would uproot them. After they died, i emptied about half the water, put some new rocks in, and made sure all the plants were securely anchored. I want to purchase more fish, but i want to know what i can do to lower pH as the method i used didn't work, and it seems like that and stress were the only problems. Why did my fish die?

Answer
Hi Ayen;

The main problem is "New Tank Syndrome". It starts when the first fish is added to the tank. A tank without fish or any other critters and the filter running does not start the break-in. There must be a source of food for the soon-to-develop beneficial bacteria to feed on. Fish waste provides that "food" so the bacteria colonies can get started. There were quite a few fish added to the tank way too soon though. Here is a link to more information about that in my article about new tanks;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

Altering the pH is very stressful. It's best to just leave it alone. Trying to change it just stresses the fish out because it causes fluctuations. Fluctuations can be deadly. What we are looking for in pH is stability, not a certain reading. Coral, shells, limestone and marble will raise the pH so I would get that out of there if you have any of those. Those minerals belong only in saltwater tanks where a high pH is needed, or on a shelf somewhere looking pretty. You can get artificial ones in fish stores to use in your tank if you like the way they look. It's a much safer alternative.

Your 25 gallon tank is actually only large enough for two goldfish at the most. Goldfish are messy guys that get very large very fast and need lots of room per fish. Here is a web page about them and what they need;

http://www.firsttankguide.net/goldfish.php

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins